The Ministry of Health announced the reduction in the price of a hundred popular drugs. But instead of gratitude, there was a wave of criticism from experts, doctors, and deputies. Because the list includes many drugs without proven effectiveness.
The Ministry of Health's initiative to reduce prices for the Top 100 medicines is an ambitious project that should have responded to the needs of Ukrainian patients. But instead of improving access to truly needed medicines, the document seems to have untied the hands of pharmaceutical manufacturers and buried hopes for real reform.
According to Oksana Dmytrieva, a member of the parliamentary committee on health, the very principle of forming the list is wrong. After all, it is based not on an analysis of medical feasibility or doctors' recommendations, but... on proposals submitted by manufacturers.
"Prices should be reduced for essential medicines, like bread or milk in the grocery basket. Not for 'chips and soda', which sell well but have no proven effectiveness," she emphasized in a comment for UNN.
The list itself contains absurd repetitions — several positions are occupied by the same drugs with different numbers of tablets in the package. This allows manufacturers to technically “inflate” the list, reducing the real number of unique names that have been reduced in price.
An even bigger scandal was caused by an additional list of drugs for which prices are also to be reduced. Among them are ineffective or even outdated drugs such as "Clofelin", "Codepsin", "Pine Buds", and "Hydrogen Peroxide".
People's deputies also draw attention: the reform has simultaneously led to an increase in prices for other medicines not included in the list. And all because of the ban on marketing agreements between pharmacies and manufacturers. Previously, they were the ones that allowed discounts to be provided to consumers. Now pharmacies are deprived of incentives - and are forced to raise markups in order not to work in the red.
“Marketing payments have disappeared — and with them, discounts for people. But manufacturers have saved money. Where is this money now? It is not visible in the price for the buyer,” notes Dmitrieva.
Her committee colleague Yuriy Zaslavsky believes it is unfair that state regulation has affected only retail, while manufacturers still account for up to 72% of the final cost of the drug.
“Why do we control pharmacies, but not affect manufacturers' markups?” the People's Deputy asks.
According to him, despite loud statements about "transparency and the fight against fraud," the main levers of influence remain in the hands of large pharmaceutical companies.
